Bresse Chickens

[BCMaraniac]

Imo this bird was slower to grow and not as tasty as an all breese.
But marans are My second favorite eating bird.

Thanks for input from your experience. I am collecting fertilized Bresse eggs and Marans eggs right now for incubation. I am still planning to cross a few Bresse with the Marans just to butcher. This way, I will have Bresse, Marans, and the crosses, caponizing the cockerels and perhaps poulardizing the pullets. It is going to be an interesting year.

 

[flowerchild59]

I have eggs coming from a breeder. I will set them early next week. Good days to set eggs in march is the 16, 17, and 25th of march.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I have eggs coming from a breeder. I will set them early next week. Good days to set eggs in march is the 16, 17, and 25th of march.

I guess I am going to have to shoot for the 25th. I just started my collection yesterday because I have been out of town, and Lord knows what my kids would have collected to incubate in my absence....LOL.

 

[chiqita]

It's your entirely your business what you do with your chickens, of course, but you must know it is not advised to taint the bloodline of these very special appellation chickens by cross-breeding them out of breed, which is one of the reasons the French wouldn't allow us to import them to begin with, as I understand it. I believe it was GreenFire Farms who first imported them to the U.S. and went to a great deal of trouble and expense to do so. I'm brand new here and have zero desire to offend anyone, just saying it'd be a terrible shame to destroy the 500 year old super-pure bloodline of these incredibly special and highly sought-after chickens.

These birds are considered the Kobe Beef of chickens. They require special feeding techniques and if you're raising for meat, their feed must be changed around 4 months for hens and 8 months for capons, and dairy products and grains given; plus their foraging and activity is greatly restricted until butchering time. Articles I've seen say this breed metabolizes their feed differently than other chickens, which has a lot to do with the flavor of their meat. Their meat is highly marbled like steak is, superbly juicy and tender meat unlike any other, from all reports. I haven't been fortunate enough to eat one yet although I've read many articles on them. In Paris butcher shops, a Poulet de Bresse capon goes for upwards of $100 each, they leave their blue legs on to prove they are indeed the prized Poulet de Bresse. Legendary French Chef Brillat-Savarin even wrote about them specifically as being the "Queen of Chickens and the chicken of Kings".

Here's a link for you to GreenFire Farms talking about the Bresse:

http://greenfirefarms.com/store/category/chickens/american-bresse/

Again, not looking to be offensive to anyone, just trying to engender the deep respect & consideration for maintaining the breed purity it clearly deserves.

At least with the white breese you can tell if they are mixed easily. Mixed chicks are not gonna sneak in as breeders .
And welcome to the thread!

 

[piglett]

Thanks for input from your experience. I am collecting fertilized Bresse eggs and Marans eggs right now for incubation. I am still planning to cross a few Bresse with the Marans just to butcher. This way, I will have Bresse, Marans, and the crosses, caponizing the cockerels and perhaps poulardizing the pullets. It is going to be an interesting year.

i don't have a Bresse rooster for my lone hen so i am using an imported english orpington for now

i am calling them New England Whites & will be treated as meat birds

 

[chiqita]

i don't have a Bresse rooster for my lone hen so i am using an imported english orpington for now i am calling them New England Whites & will be treated as meat birds

I bet we have some extra boys on this thread!

 

[PetRock]

At least with the white breese you can tell if they are mixed easily. Mixed chicks are not gonna sneak in as breeders

.
And welcome to the thread!

My Bresse are at a friend's farm and are housed right now with two pairs of Rhode Island Reds. There is no doubt whose chicks are whose. The Bresse don't allow the RIRs to get their girls and the RIRs protect their girls. It's kind of funny! We are not hatching or selling fertile eggs from either breed right now except for the occasional few eggs to fill our own incubator. I have yet to hatch a cross from these two breeds. We need to finish another pen for the RIRs and process the extra birds from both breeds.

 

[DCchicken]

I bet we have some extra boys on this thread!

Actually I do have 2 extra boys that are 7 months old. These boys were purchased directly from Greenfire and were vaccinated for Meraks. PM if interested. They are too big to ship in the boxes I currently have, so local pickup in Maryland (Upper Marlboro) or I can meet within a reasonable distance. If no one buys them, they will be processed next week.

 

[DeltaBluezTess]

~~Originally Posted by Phoenixwmn View Post It's your entirely your business what you do with your chickens, of course, but you must know it is not advised to taint the bloodline of these very special appellation chickens by cross-breeding them out of breed, which is one of the reasons the French wouldn't allow us to import them to begin with, as I understand it. I believe it was GreenFire Farms who first imported them to the U.S. and went to a great deal of trouble and expense to do so. I'm brand new here and have zero desire to offend anyone, just saying it'd be a terrible shame to destroy the 500 year old super-pure bloodline of these incredibly special and highly sought-after chickens.

In my case I don't have many to breed from , hence my question to breed to a Sulmtaler. Once I get more of a base stock, I will only breed to Bresse. and my cross will be in my freezer and not to be bred from either

 

[Caitlin_VT]

At what age can I expect to be able to sex accurately? I hatched 2, and oh man are they growing fast! Hoping I didn't end up with 2 boys!